SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION 09 02 2013 What is Sociology The science of human society social institutions and social development A way of thinking about the world making the familiar strange Link individual actions to social phenomena Explain human behavior with reference to social groups C Wright Mills First to term sociological imagination Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understand without understanding both Ideas are so embedded in our thinking that we are trapped The task of sociology was to understand the relationship b w individuals and their society Sociological imagination is the ability to see social patterns that influence an individual as well as groups of individuals Argues that sociological imagination is a form of self awareness Sociological Imagination 3 Research Questions Social Structure What is the structure of this particular society as a whole Socio historical Context Where does this society stand in human history Ex gender the view of women has changed over time Diversity What varieties of men and women now prevail in this society and period 1 Troubles vs Issues Troubles Private matter among individuals individual values are threatened Limited to the immediate surroundings and awareness of the individual Ex failing a class personal relationships Issues Affects large numbers of people within society Ex natural disaster personal unemployment laws and regulations personal gay marriage Examples War Trouble individual survival money safety Issue who s in command effects on economy relations between nation states Marriage Trouble partner conflict Issue high divorce rates Social Institutions A complex group of interdependent positions that together perform a social role and reproduce themselves over time Simply any social institution that works to shape the behavior of the groups or people within in it Ex religion health care family Institutions are not monolithic stable or uniform They are socially constructed and thus fluid and every changing 2 SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION 09 02 2013 What is Sociology development The science of human society social institutions and social A way of thinking about the world making the familiar strange Link individual actions to social phenomena Explain human behavior with reference to social groups C Wright Mills First to term sociological imagination Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understand without understanding both Ideas are so embedded in our thinking that we are trapped The task of sociology was to understand the relationship b w individuals and their society Sociological imagination is the ability to see social patterns that influence an individual as well as groups of individuals Argues that sociological imagination is a form of self awareness Sociological Imagination 3 Research Questions Social Structure What is the structure of this particular society as a whole Socio historical Context Where does this society stand in human history o Ex gender the view of women has changed over time Diversity period What varieties of men and women now prevail in this society and 3 Troubles vs Issues Troubles Private matter among individuals individual values are threatened Limited to the immediate surroundings and awareness of the individual o Ex failing a class personal relationships Affects large numbers of people within society o Ex natural disaster personal unemployment laws and regulations personal gay marriage Issues Examples War o Trouble individual survival money safety o Issue who s in command effects on economy relations between nation states Marriage o Trouble partner conflict o Issue high divorce rates Social Institutions A complex group of interdependent positions that together perform a social role and reproduce themselves over time Simply any social institution that works to shape the behavior of the groups or people within in it o Ex religion health care family Institutions are not monolithic stable or uniform They are socially constructed and thus fluid and ever changing 4 SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION 09 02 2013 Founding Fathers Karl Marx Principles of communism are based on his writings Historical Materialism o conflicts between classes drive social change Max Weber Theories of authority rationality the state and status Verstehen o Sociologists approach social behavior from the perspective of those engaging in it Emile Durkheim Anomie a sense of aimlessness or despair that arises when we can no longer reasonably expect life to be predictable too little social regulation normalness Positivist Sociology a strain within sociology that believes the social world can be described and predicted by certain describable relationship George Simmel Formal Sociology a sociology of pure numbers Study of groups of people American Sociology Social ecology humans behaviors and personalities are shaped by their social and physical environments W E B DuBois o Double consciousness describes the two behavioral scripts constantly maintained by African Americans one for moving through the world and the other incorporating the external opinions of prejudiced onlookers Modern Sociology 5 Functionalism the theory that various social institutions and processes in society exist to serve some important necessary function to keep society running o Roles in society may be manifest explicit or latent hidden 6 Sociology is a product of rational sensibilities unleashed by the 09 02 2013 HISTORY OF SOCIOLOGY European Antecedents Enlightenment Sociology as social physics o August Comte o The Positive Philosophy Sociology as Darwinism applied to social life o Herbert Spencer o Progress Its Law and Cause o Social Progress society is always progressing and becoming better Sociology began to emerge during the 19th century as a way of making sense of democratization and industrialization o Karl Marx 1818 1883 Communist Manifesto 1848 o Max Weber 1864 1920 o Emile Durkheim 1858 1917 Division of Labor in Society 1893 First to consider himself a sociologist Society is a machine Functionalist Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism 1904 05 American Exceptionalism Sociology took root more slowly in the U S because of ideas about American Exceptionalism o Ideology that the U S is somehow different than the rest of the world 7 Free from the bonds of history free of religious conflict and class strife Uniquely virtuous and democratic 8 Land of unlimited opportunity for all Errand into the